This blog is a series of copies
or (if longer) links to relevant blog posts over at my main blog,
Madam Mayo. Unless
not.

February
18, 2013
Just posted: "A
Visit to Swan House" and reflections on literary travel
writing in the digital age, my reading for PEN San Miguel in
San Miguel de Allende, January 29, 2013. This makes the 10th
podcast in the 24 podcast series.

January
7, 2013
Just posted: My October 2012 interview with painter Mary
Baxter about her luminous landscapes in her Marfa, Texas
studio. This is #9 in the 24 podcast series, "Marfa Mondays."

P.S. Several more podcasts
are in line to be posted next month: Chinati Hotsprings,
Simone Swan's Adobe Alliance, Mary Baxter, and more.

July 23, 2012Marfa Mondays
Podcast #7: "We Have Seen the Lights"
(A week late due to technical snafus. Ayyyy!)
C.M. Mayo recounts personal experiences with the eerie phenomena
of the Marfas Lights, also known as Marfa Ghost Lights; comments
on some of the literature and research; and interviews some residents
of the greater Big Bend region and Marfa. Listen
in here.

June 18,
2012Marfa
Mondays #6: Marfa's Moonlight GemstonesNow live:
my podcast interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's Moonlight
Gemstones, the 6th is a series of 24 podcasts about Marfa,
Texas and environs apropos of a book-in-progress
(as yet untitled).
It was no exaggeration for historian Walter Prescott Webb to
describe the Big Bend region as "an earthwreck in which
a great section of country was shaken down, turned over, blown
up, and set on fire." In short, there is ample evidence
of millions of years of dramatic geological activity, with the
craggiest of mountains to rocks of all kinds, from mammoth piles
of boulders to pebbles. In this interview with Paul Graybeal,
owner of Marfa's magnet for rock hounds, learn about agates,
thundereggs, and. . . . READ
MORE

May 28,
2012The
Marfa, Texas Chamber of Commerce: Why I JoinedWell, it's not 1996. That's when I started
writing Miraculous Air,
my travel memoir of Mexico's nearly 1,000 mile-long Baja California
peninsula, which was originally published by the University of
Utah Press in 2002 (now a Milkweed Editions paperback). I was
traveling and writing in the Anglo-American
tradition of Robert Byron (The Road to Oxiana), Frances
Calderon de la Barca (Life
in Mexico), Ian Frazier (Great Plains), Sara
Mansfield Taber (In Patagonia), V.S. Naipaul (A
Turn in the South; Among the Believers), and -- though with
a sight more depth into the actual nature, history and culture
of Mexico and Baja California -- John Steinbeck's The Log
from the Sea of Cortez (lovely book, but it mainly takes
place in his head whilst observing the shoreline from the boat).
I mean to say. . . . READ
MORE

May 21,
2012Marfa
Mondays #5: Cynthia McAlister: The Buzz on the BeesCynthia
McAlister is an expert on the bees of West Texas, and as those
of you who have been following this blog know, I'm crazy about
bees, so this interview is one I was especially delighted be
able to do. It was recorded in late January when I was traveling
in the area for my book (as yet untitled). I've been back since
and will be posting more podcasts-- they're scheduled for the
3rd Monday of every month through the end of 2013-- including
one on the remote and restful Chinati Hotsprings and an interview
with the owner of Marfa's fascinating Moonlight Gemstones. Stay
tuned.. . . READ
MORE

April
16, 2012Marfa
Mondays #4: Avram Dumitrescu, An Artist in Alpine
The monthly Marfa Mondays podcast
is live: an interview with Avram
Dumitrescu, an artist whose paintings have been featured
in "Marfans: Art from the Plateau" at the Nancy Fyfe
Cardozier Gallery in Odessa, and also showcased in Cenizo
Journal. A native of the Channel Islands and raised in Belfast,
Dumitrescu earned a bachelor's degree and Masters in Applied
Arts from the University of Ulster at Belfast. He is married
to journalist Megan Wilde. For more about Dumitrescu, and to
view his portfolio, visit www.onlineavram.com.
Recorded in late January 2012. (About 36 minutes) >>Click
here to listen in.

Yours Truly interviews Mary Bones,
curator of the exhibit "The Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist
Paintings," in the Museum
of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas.

The Lost Colony refers to the
summer art colony at Sul Ross which began in 1932 and ended somewhat
mysteriously in 1950. Alpine is 30 minutes northeast of Marfa
right next door.

Of the region, as Michael Duty writes in the introduction to
the exhibit's catalog, "It... has long called to artists
who have been captivated by its natural beauty, its history,
and its people. In recent times, the area has also drawn the
attention of writers and reporters who have written numerous
articles touting the area's prominence as something of a center,
albeit a far flung one, for contemporary art. Those articles
focus primarily on Marfa and the influence that minimalist sculptor
Donald Judd has had on the town..." Later, Duty adds, that
Judd "was certainly not the first artist to be so captivated".

February 20,
2012Marfa
Mondays # 2: Charles Angell in the Big BendNow live: The Marfa Mondays podcast,
this month, an interview with Big Bend expert Charles Angell,
which took place at the Hoodoos in Big Bend State Park, right
on the Rio Grande, and in Fort Leaton, near Presidio, Texas.
. . READ
MORE

January 16, 2012Marfa
Mondays #1: Introduction and WelcomeToday, Monday, January
16, 2012 is the launch of the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project:
Exploring Marfa, Texas and Environs in 24 Podcasts, one podcast
per month through 2013. This project is lieu of (though maybe
in addition to) writing magazine articles as I proceed with a
book project the title of which... well, it's way too early to
say much about that. Suffice it to say it will be a travel memoir
about West Texas. . . . READ
MORE

P.S. Several more podcasts
are in line to be posted next month: Chinati Hotsprings,
Simone Swan's Adobe Alliance, Mary Baxter, and more.

July 23, 2012Marfa Mondays
Podcast #7: "We Have Seen the Lights"
(A week late due to technical snafus. Ayyyy!)
C.M. Mayo recounts personal experiences with the eerie phenomena
of the Marfas Lights, also known as Marfa Ghost Lights; comments
on some of the literature and research; and interviews some residents
of the greater Big Bend region and Marfa. Listen
in here.

June 18,
2012Marfa
Mondays #6: Marfa's Moonlight GemstonesNow live:
my podcast interview with Paul Graybeal, owner of Marfa's Moonlight
Gemstones, the 6th is a series of 24 podcasts about Marfa,
Texas and environs apropos of a book-in-progress
(as yet untitled).
It was no exaggeration for historian Walter Prescott Webb to
describe the Big Bend region as "an earthwreck in which
a great section of country was shaken down, turned over, blown
up, and set on fire." In short, there is ample evidence
of millions of years of dramatic geological activity, with the
craggiest of mountains to rocks of all kinds, from mammoth piles
of boulders to pebbles. In this interview with Paul Graybeal,
owner of Marfa's magnet for rock hounds, learn about agates,
thundereggs, and. . . . READ
MORE

May 28,
2012The
Marfa, Texas Chamber of Commerce: Why I JoinedWell, it's not 1996. That's when I started
writing Miraculous Air,
my travel memoir of Mexico's nearly 1,000 mile-long Baja California
peninsula, which was originally published by the University of
Utah Press in 2002 (now a Milkweed Editions paperback). I was
traveling and writing in the Anglo-American
tradition of Robert Byron (The Road to Oxiana), Frances
Calderon de la Barca (Life
in Mexico), Ian Frazier (Great Plains), Sara
Mansfield Taber (In Patagonia), V.S. Naipaul (A
Turn in the South; Among the Believers), and -- though with
a sight more depth into the actual nature, history and culture
of Mexico and Baja California -- John Steinbeck's The Log
from the Sea of Cortez (lovely book, but it mainly takes
place in his head whilst observing the shoreline from the boat).
I mean to say. . . . READ
MORE

May 21,
2012Marfa
Mondays #5: Cynthia McAlister: The Buzz on the BeesCynthia
McAlister is an expert on the bees of West Texas, and as those
of you who have been following this blog know, I'm crazy about
bees, so this interview is one I was especially delighted be
able to do. It was recorded in late January when I was traveling
in the area for my book (as yet untitled). I've been back since
and will be posting more podcasts-- they're scheduled for the
3rd Monday of every month through the end of 2013-- including
one on the remote and restful Chinati Hotsprings and an interview
with the owner of Marfa's fascinating Moonlight Gemstones. Stay
tuned.. . . READ
MORE

April
16, 2012Marfa
Mondays #4: Avram Dumitrescu, An Artist in Alpine
The monthly Marfa Mondays podcast
is live: an interview with Avram
Dumitrescu, an artist whose paintings have been featured
in "Marfans: Art from the Plateau" at the Nancy Fyfe
Cardozier Gallery in Odessa, and also showcased in Cenizo
Journal. A native of the Channel Islands and raised in Belfast,
Dumitrescu earned a bachelor's degree and Masters in Applied
Arts from the University of Ulster at Belfast. He is married
to journalist Megan Wilde. For more about Dumitrescu, and to
view his portfolio, visit www.onlineavram.com.
Recorded in late January 2012. (About 36 minutes) >>Click
here to listen in.

Yours Truly interviews Mary Bones,
curator of the exhibit "The Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist
Paintings," in the Museum
of the Big Bend, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas.

The Lost Colony refers to the
summer art colony at Sul Ross which began in 1932 and ended somewhat
mysteriously in 1950. Alpine is 30 minutes northeast of Marfa
right next door.

Of the region, as Michael Duty writes in the introduction to
the exhibit's catalog, "It... has long called to artists
who have been captivated by its natural beauty, its history,
and its people. In recent times, the area has also drawn the
attention of writers and reporters who have written numerous
articles touting the area's prominence as something of a center,
albeit a far flung one, for contemporary art. Those articles
focus primarily on Marfa and the influence that minimalist sculptor
Donald Judd has had on the town..." Later, Duty adds, that
Judd "was certainly not the first artist to be so captivated".

February 20,
2012Marfa
Mondays # 2: Charles Angell in the Big BendNow live: The Marfa Mondays podcast,
this month, an interview with Big Bend expert Charles Angell,
which took place at the Hoodoos in Big Bend State Park, right
on the Rio Grande, and in Fort Leaton, near Presidio, Texas.
. . READ
MORE

January 16, 2012Marfa
Mondays #1: Introduction and WelcomeToday, Monday, January
16, 2012 is the launch of the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project:
Exploring Marfa, Texas and Environs in 24 Podcasts, one podcast
per month through 2013. This project is lieu of (though maybe
in addition to) writing magazine articles as I proceed with a
book project the title of which... well, it's way too early to
say much about that. Suffice it to say it will be a travel memoir
about West Texas. . . . READ
MORE